Introduction
This guide is current for ZK stable version 1.2.4.11.
Link to my stats/general guide for Airplanes:
http://code.google.com/p/zero-k/wiki/SpecificUnitGuides_2#Airplanes
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Table of Contents
- Details
- Fighters: Comparison
- Plane usage details
- Build orders/strategy
- Athenas, and the proper use thereof
<wiki:comment> ^ This inserts the table of contents.</wiki:comment>
Details
Air players have one of the most important jobs on a team, but unfortunately most people tend to botch the whole thing horribly. Playing air effectively requires you to have good situational awareness; i.e, you are intuitively aware of what's going on at all times and thus can respond quickly. People rely on their air player to provide cover against opposing air with their fighters, and this often requires you to spread across all fronts so you can project force wherever and whenever it's needed.
To play air effectively you must also be economical, and balance your fighter production against your bomber production very carefully. If your enemy makes more AA, you will need more bombers to get through; if your allies are making AA, you won't need as many fighters; if the map isn't too big or wide, Hawks might get more mileage than Swifts, etc. The most important thing is to not spend too little, or too much; your situational awareness must be sharp so you can make the right decisions on what to build, and when.
Let me try an example, here. Let's say you are playing a team game, and you find that your enemy has an air player. You immediately start building Air-Superiority Fighters to knock out any bombers or other aircraft that might try something bold. All your metal is going into units that can't attack ground, thus you cannot offer support to your allies should the ground war prove more dangerous than the air war. Most air players spam fighters like they're going out of style as soon as they see that their enemy has an air on their team, because they are scared shitless of enemy bombers getting through; and also because they don't really know what else to do.
The lesson? Know when to stop.
When you are the air player, you are afforded a greater perspective of the battlefield at large, because you have to watch all fronts as opposed to the one that a ground player is pushing against.
Fighters: Comparison
Most people view Swifts as inferior to Hawks; and why not? Hawks have more HP, more upfront damage and they don't need to reload. However, Hawks also don't turn as well, aren't nearly as fast (7.6 to 13 Hawk to Swift speed), and they slow down to 50% of their movement speed when firing their weapons. Both Interceptors and ASF have their own strengths and weaknesses; neither is better than the other.
Let's start with Swifts.
Pros:
| They can attack ground as well as air | | They have the 'Stealth' tag, allowing them to avoid showing up on normal radar | | They have tracking munitions (Guided Missiles) so they can fire even when something isn't in front of them | | They are faster and more maneuverable than Hawks by a large margin, so they can react to a changing situation much quicker | | Their missiles have AoE capability, allowing them to obliterate swarms of light gunships and any air unit clustered together | | They cost half the price of a Hawk (150 to 300) |
Cons:
| They are very weak (360 HP), and are thus extremely easy to take down with even mild AA | | They aren't as effective at taking down heavier air units as Hawks |
Hawks. Though they are commonly heralded as the go-to fighter plane of choice for taking down air units, they too have their pros and cons; not the least of which being the fact that they cost 300 metal apiece.
Pros:
| They are extremely durable, allowing them to take moderate AA fire and dogfights with opposing air and live | | Longer range than Swifts (800 to 530 for their missiles and 700 for their laser) | | Their upfront DPS is far superior to Swifts; any form of air unit will melt like candlewax under sustained fire | | Their slow-down when firing actually helps them get more shots if their target isn't moving away |
Cons:
| They can't attack ground | | They are slower than Swifts (Though still faster than most air units) | | They can't shoot behind themselves; in a dogfight, any fighter that can get on their six (Behind) has a crushing advantage | | They slow down when firing their weapons; if you reach those bombers too late, you might not be able to catch them | | They are very expensive to make in number |
Plane usage details
A unique feature of fixed-wing aircraft is that when they die, they don't always immediately turn into a reclaimable wreck; aircraft that are shot down will oftentimes emit a smoke trail from their rear, spin out of control and fly haphazardly until they make contact with the ground, where they explode and then become a wreck. When a bomber or any other plane dies, it will crash in one of five ways:
1. If it is shot down facing the enemy, it will most likely crash on their turf, allowing them to reclaim/resurrect the wreck and profit from your loss. Avoid this as much as possible.
2. If it is shot down while facing away from the enemy (on a return trip, usually), it will crash closer to your territory, allowing you to recover the wreckage and recoup some of your losses.
3. If it is shot down whilst facing sideways (neither towards the enemy or towards you), or in any way that results in it crashing in 'Neutral' turf, this means either side can grab it, but they have to be quick before the other guy does.
4. Sometimes, it won't crash at all; if a plane dies at the wrong angle, it will fly completely off the map either sideways or straight up. This means the reclaim eventually appears on the map edge.
5. If it's hit hard enough it will simply break apart in mid-air, leaving wreckage or debris to fall on the spot. This happens most often when aircraft are hit by heavy missiles, like from Screamers or Hacksaws.
Build orders/strategy
Support Commander is probably best to pick for a typical air start in team games, as it gives you 2 extra buildpower to get your first planes out quicker. I usually get plenty of mileage out of the following build order for my airplane start:
| Airplane Factory | Swift | Metal Extractor | Wind generator x2 | Hawk | Metal extractor x2 | Wind generator x2 | Swift x2 | Hawk | Raven x2 |
This gives you a good balance between economy and units; after this it's all about personal style, and how you use your planes. The Ravens should be kept back until you see a high-profile target you can snipe, such as a Commander on the front lines or a Geothermal plant or something. As soon as the enemy see that you have Ravens, they are inevitably going to throw up AA to counter you, so make your first run count.
You can make a Disarm bomber before the Ravens if the enemy has gone Reapers, early shield ball or some other tactic. I wouldn't recommend Phoenixes unless your early scouts found lots of Wind generators asking to be napalmed, a Hover player who fancies early Scalpels, Cloaky Bots using Rocko/Hammer spam (very annoying), etc. Build the right bomber for the right situation.
If playing on a sea map or one with a lot of water, it is advisable to make a Vulture (Radar/Sonar plane) before you make any Ravens; this will help your allies out immensely in gathering vital intelligence, as it has a very high radar range as well as sonar for detecting subs and amphibious units. This ensures that your team will not be surprised.
Once you have a comfortable set of planes flying around, you should consider building an Athena to expand your intelligence network even further, and also to resurrect any downed aircraft. More on this in the next section.
Athenas, and the proper use thereof
http://code.google.com/p/zero-k/wiki/SpecificUnitGuides_2#Athena
A plane player should try to build an Athena after they build about 5 fighters and 2 bombers. I cannot stress the usefulness of Athenas enough, as they have the ability to resurrect downed aircraft, both yours and the enemy's. Make sure you try and ping the locations of the wrecks of any aircraft you see, so you can bring in an Athena later to pick them up. Being able to have aircraft without needing to spend metal to produce them is a huge boon.
Athenas are also one of the best scouts in the game, and can produce a wide array of cloaking and other support units for your use. Consider using Athenas as an alternative to Vultures for scouting once your enemy begins putting up a lot of AA, as their ability to cloak and intrinsic radar will give them quite a bit of mileage in this category.
Before sending your Athena out on a scouting trip, have it lay out the nanoframes of several units you may wish to build. This will allow your commander/caretakers to build scouts/support units while the Athena is off scouting the enemy base, saving you from having to keep it at home or building another one.
All in all, you should be using Athenas to gain maximum recon coverage and resurrect important destroyed units, especially downed aircraft.
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    Licho
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